Term Distance learning

Directory of Internet terms

Distance learning — A form of learning that takes place where the teachers and the students are in physically separate locations. Distance learning can be either Asynchronous or Synchronous. Traditional distance learning includes the mailing of printed materials, correspondence between teachers and students in writing, contact by telephone, and radio and television broadcasts. More recently, distance learning has included E-learning and/or Online Learning. The British Open University (OU) is one of the oldest established distance-learning establishments to have embraced existing technologies, i.e. radio and television, when it was set up in the 1960s. The OU continues to embrace new distance learning technologies as they become more widely available. See the OU Web page on What is distance learning? See also Blended Learning, Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).